The Dutch National Human Rights Institute has looked into the draft general comments on
articles 9 and 12 of CRPD. It is of the opinion that the texts are clear and useful for the
interpretation of these articles. In its view the general comments give a good explanation of
what accessibility and equal recognition before the law entail and seem useful for dialogue with
the government about the implementation of CRPD, once the Dutch government has ratified
CRPD. The prospects of ratification by the Netherlands are good: draft laws for ratification have
been made and will be presented to Parliament this spring. The expectation is that CRPD will be
ratified by July 2015.
Kind regards,
A.K. (Keirsten) de Jongh LLM
Senior policy adviser
Netherlands Institute for Human Rights
W www.mensenrechten.nl